Celebrities Voice Support For John Boyega After Passionate Black Lives Matter Speech

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Celebrities Voice Support For John Boyega After Passionate Black Lives Matter Speech

On June 3, John Boyega delivered an impassioned speech at a Black Lives Matter protest in London’s Hyde Park. “Black lives have always mattered,” Boyega said to the crowd of demonstrators, “we have always been important, we have always meant something, we have always succeeded, regardless, and now is the time.”

Near the end of the speech, the 28-year-old Star Wars actor said, “Look I don’t know if I’m gonna have a career after this. But fuck that.”

Since then, several of Hollywood’s biggest names have taken to social media to show their support for Boyega. Jordan Peele, the oscar-winning writer and director behind Get Out and Us, tweeted hours after the footage of the speech went public, “We got you, John.” The message was soon retweeted by director of 2017’s best picture winner, The Shape of Water, Guillmero Del Toro. Boyega’s Star Wars co-star Mark Hamill and director J.J. Abrams later tweeted their support.

A host of other writers and directors— including Charlie Brooker of Black Mirror, celebrated British filmmaker Edgar Wright, actress and director Olivia Wilde and many more—expressed their support for Boyega on Twitter. Read their messages below.

“I need you to understand,” said Boyega in the park on Wednesday, “how painful it is to be reminded every day that your race means nothing. And that isn’t the case anymore. That is never the case anymore…We are a physical representation of our support for George Floyd. We are a physical representation of our support for Sandra Bland. We are a physical representation of our support for Treyvon Martin. We are a physical representation of our support for Stephen Lawrence, for Mark Duggan.”

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